A known type of input/output (I/O) electrical connector includes a dielectric housing having a front mating face and a rear face with a terminal-receiving cavity extending therebetween. A plurality of terminals are mounted in the cavity, with portions of the terminals, such as male pin portions, extending from the cavity outwardly of the dielectric housing for mating with the terminals of a complementary mating connector. Most often, the terminals have enlarged body sections which are used to fix the terminals within the connector housing so that the projecting mating portions of the terminals are maintained in proper spacing and alignment.
In other connectors of this type, a plurality of terminal modules are insertable into the housing cavity, with each module including a dielectric insert or strip surrounding a plurality of the terminals. The dielectric insert may be overmolded about the body sections of the plurality of terminals. For instance, thin elongated terminal modules may be positioned in a side-by-side or "stacked" array within the housing cavity. In order to hold the modules within the cavity, various latch means are provided. In essence, the overmolded dielectric inserts function to properly space and align the projecting mating portions of the terminals.
Still further, many such I/O electrical connectors include separate tail aligning devices, such as a flat plastic member having apertures therethrough which function to maintain projecting tail portions of the terminals in proper spacing and alignment. A problem with separate aligning devices is that they add costs to the connector both in structure and in assembly procedures.
The present invention is directed to solving the problems encountered in properly spacing and aligning projecting portions of the terminals by employing an auxiliary alignment means directly on the connector housing. The auxiliary alignment means also is designed for accommodating terminals having twisted mating pin portions projecting from the connector.